Lower Back Pain
Lower back pain is a condition we see multiple times a day in our clinic. This can range from simple back pain to excruciating and continuous leg pain all the way to the big toe (sciatica).
It is essential to understand the cause of your lower back pain. This will help you make the best choices for treatment and, ultimately, prevention.
How does lower back pain start?
There are many ways lower back pain can start. The most common include:
- Sleeping in different beds
- A fall or trauma like slipping and falling onto your backside.
- A sudden jolt like missing a step.
- Sitting for long periods
- Poor posture when lifting
- Doing an activity, you are generally not used to, e.g. moving house, gardening
- Wear and tear of the spine (arthritis)
- Unknown causes such as waking up from sleep and having back pain
Sometimes a combination of one or more of the above can increase your chances of having lower back pain.
What you might be feeling?
- Dull or sharp pain across the centre of your lower back
- Dull or severe pain on the left or right side of your lower back
- Pain when getting up from sitting
- Pain when you cough or sneeze
- Pain that travels into your buttock/s,
- Pain down the outside thigh, inner thigh or down your leg (nerve pain or sciatica)
- Pain that keeps you awake at night
- Pain even after taking painkillers or anti-inflammatories.
If you have experienced one or more of the above symptoms, you may need to be professionally assessed by our chiropractor, Paul Simmons.
How we can help.
Whether you have had pain for the first time or many times, lower back pain can be really distressing and uncomfortable.
At Clear Choice Chiropractic, we perform a thorough history and examination of the area in question. This includes safety, orthopaedic and neurological testing.
We carefully assess:
- The motion of each of your spinal and pelvis joints, looking for any unusual restrictions in movement
- Any tightness or spasm of surrounding muscles
- Any swelling or inflammation that can be present with your pain.
Once we have completed a detailed assessment of your pain, you will have your examination findings explained to you in a way you can understand.
If you choose to proceed with treatment, your treatment options will be explained to you. In the majority of cases, we can start your treatment straight away.
In some cases, imaging such as X-rays may be required before treatment.
What can you expect.
If your lower back pain is a result of a spinal and/or pelvis joint dysfunction, then a specific correction (an adjustment), done by hand, is applied to that area.
The adjustment aims to help restore and correct the biomechanical position of the joint. This helps improve control of the spine and body, and in most cases, will reduce your pain levels.
Once you have had your adjustment, you will be given important advice to complement your treatment. This may include
- Pain management recommendations
- Basic exercises such as stretches
- Ergonomic advice such as sleeping and/or sitting postures.